was it also built at VW China and then exported to Nissan ?
Media sites are great resources for sourcing pictures for manufactures, especially when it comes to locating iamges of discontinued models or concept cars.
It’s also not uncommon that you’ll find something unusual that you weren’t aware of—say, a low-production model only sold in a few markets or pictures of a car you didn’t know the company raced.
This time, however, it’s a little weirder: Hiding in amongst the various “heritage models” (a fancy way of saying “cars we don’t make anymore) on Nissan’s global Media site sits an unassuming, compact German sedan: a third-generation VW Passat. Specifically, it’s listed as a “GT Type-X.”
We did a little digging, though we were unable to find out why pictures of the Passat are on Nissan’s media site. So far, our best guess is that the Passat was, at some point, sold in Japan by Nissan, in a style similar to the Toyota Cavalier and some Saturn models that were also said to have been sold by Toyota.
If you have any idea as to why Nissan has these pictures, we’d love to hear them—even if it’s just a theory. We have reached out to a friend at the company who knows a lot, so maybe call this a slow-motion, breaking story.
Like what you're reading? We rely on your financial support. For as little as $3, you can support Grassroots Motorsports by becoming a Patron today.
was it also built at VW China and then exported to Nissan ?
1) My guess is someone was setting up the site and inserted pictures to be changed later when appropriate pictures were found.
And later never happened.
2) Or someone thought that no one was ever going to look at the site anyway and did it as a joke.
The excuse will be see line 1.
Toyota sold Cavaliers? WTF!
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
And you might be thinking, "why on earth would Japanese people want to buy a lousy American car"? Especially since it would now cost even more to own, since it had to travel halfway around the globe.
I don't know about other markets, but I do know that in Japan, some Japanese like to own something that is not from their own country. They really like mustangs and Corvettes. And I would assume that they would own our "large American trucks" (gotta be an innuendo), if they could import them.
adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:Toyota sold Cavaliers? WTF!
Three of them....
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Close. It was 36,000. All with the 2.4 and auto trans
adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:Toyota sold Cavaliers? WTF!
IIRC it was part of some deal with the US government that Japan had to import X many American cars.
A friend at Nissan sent me the link to this: a Nissan Passat brochure on eBay.
Sort of related, but Google Nissan Santana, too.
You beat me to it on the Santana. I came across this:
https://jalopnik.com/this-volkswagen-is-a-nissan-1591951125
I'm guessing that the B3 Passat was what carried this obviously lucrative venture through to 1991, after the major model change, but haven't yet found any online reference to it.
adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:Toyota sold Cavaliers? WTF!
And they're legal for import this year. Daylan and I were discussing it on Facebook. I think it'd be hilarious to roll into car shows with a showroom-fresh RHD Toyota Cavalier
Displaying 1-10 of 22 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
